Oh the things said in the wee hours

Yesterday was Sat. and we had 2 groups come in during the day. One group called my phone asking where Julia and I were and why we weren't there to greet them. I calmly replied that we were just getting off the freeway and would be there in 5 min. The best part was that it was about 1:30pm and we weren't expecting a group until 2:30, and the group that called was slated to come in at 4pm. Okay not really a good first impression, but you know, they drove from PA, so I understand the short fuses.

The other group tried to lock us in camp when we were here. The best part was that they didn't even lock the lock. The lock ended up being smarter, it was after all an old lock. Both of these groups keep to themselves.

Julia and I had a bonding movie night in my trailer last night. Julia is the one training me. She is cool! I'm sad that she is leaving me on April 2nd. But anyway, we watched Twilight, and then played Nertz for an hour while we waited for the college group from UPC to arrive. They were slated to come in at about midnight and came in closer to 1am. They are a cool group of young women. They have a lot of energy and I got to take them to church this morning and that was fun too. We went to First Pres. New Orleans, on Claiborne Ave. It definitely was an interesting, short/sweet service, but next week I'm going to go check out Lakeview Pres. And see how that differs. I'm not entirely motivated to church shop, but I know that for my own sanity I need to.

This job doesn't leave much time for sleep. Saturday morning my work phone rang at 4:50am because someone had left their cell phone and were already at the airport. Then this morning one of the group leaders called me at 7am to tell me 2 people weren't going to make it with their group. Which was pointless information, and definitely didn't need to be called in at 7am when it was my one chance to sleep until 9am! Sunday mornings are my only mornings to sleep, or at least sleep until church, but most church services are later in the morning out here so that isn't so bad. Julia and I decided to split up the week for who gets up with morning crew, so that we both don't have to be up and in the kitchen by 5:45am. I'm taking tomorrow morning since the group getting breakfast together is the group from UPC, an Julia is taking Tuesday and Wed. to give me a couple of consistent mornings off.

Julia and I had an adventure yesterday, we tried to find Wal-mart! Big mistake, we totally got lost, so much for google maps being better! I ended up calling Jessie, who thank God was in front of a computer and got us to Wal-mart. It was fun though, Julia and I laughed the whole time, and I'll admit a ton of expletives were spewing from my mouth. Jessie heard some of them too! Then my credit card was declined at Wal-mart so I put it on my debit card and filled out the paper work to be reimbursed later. What a hassle. The financial director yelled at me, then informed me that I had to activate the card, and gave me the pin number to do so. I calmly told her that I wouldn't have known what the pin number was if she hadn't of given it to me, so that was information she needed to give me at the beginning because I was not a mind reader.

I don't think PDA realizes that they got a squeaky wheel when it comes to me. If they want me to double check everything then I will. And I'll make a lot of fuss if I have to.

I gave my first orientation tonight and it went well, there were a few things that I forgot, but Julia and I wrote them down to remember for the morning breakfast. I'll admit that I'm a little nervous about the group dynamics. One group in particular has been down so many times that the first thing they did was tell Julia and I how to fix things so they better run, and they had only been here 2 hours! But Julia and I have a good handle on things, and we tweaked stuff so things run the way we think will be best. And we'll see how this week works. Hopefully, and prayerfully it will be a lot better than the first impressions have let on.

Prayer requests:
1. That this week's community comes together
2. My energy level and optimism stays high despite lack of sleep
3. Confidence that it is God who is in control not me, or the volunteers